Zantrex 1800 watt inverter.. XANTREX 1800 WATT/3600 WATT POWER INVERTER | eBay This one has 7 hours left and no one has bid on it. What say you guys? KF
Well, there are a couple of reasons. One, most of the newer type xantrax stuff is not anywhere near as good as the old types. The guys that designed the Trace, then sold the co. to xantrax, worked for them for awhile, had disputes with the new owners and started a new co. called "Outback" These guys design the very best money can buy. So, xantrax figured that they could just hire a couple of new elec. design guys and do even better. Wrong. A lot of the solar companies around here will not even handle any of the new xantrax stuff, only outback. they seem to be having lots of problems with the new xantrax. Also, there is no battery charger in these small cutsy little units.
Another reason you almost NEVER find a Used OutBack Inverter on eBay. Since last November I have only seen two or three, PERIOD. I posted two of them here, and one I sent to our local Master BlaseSmith and his wife, who jumped on it the same day, and picked it up. They just are that rare on eBay. ...... YMMV.....
Bruce, the reason you mostly never find outback, is that they are user friendly. If something happens to it, ususally it is one of the circut boards, which you can replace yourself. Therefore, you don't ususally have to send the whole unit in, just diagnose it, buy the replacement board and slip it in. From what I understand, sort of like a board in a mainframe
Ok, to help eleviate the confusion, let make a few points, here. 1. The Old Trace SW Series (sinewave) and DR Series (modified sinewave) inverters were the LAST ones designed by the Outback Crew, before they all Quit, walked out the Backdoor, down the street a 1/2 miles and started Outback Power Systems. 2. Those are solid as the day is long. Any of the newer stuff is problematic, at best, as they are mostly built by contractors, overseas. 3. The OutBack Stuff is the Next Generation Inverter/Chargers from the above mentioned SW and DR Series stuff, and as far as I know Outback does NOT make ANY Modified Sinewave Inverters. 4. Used Trace inverters can be found on eBay, every day of the week. but you need to do your research, long and hard BEFORE you bid on ANY USED Inverter System. There are two SW Series Inverters on eBay right NOW, but they are UPV versions, that contain NO Battery Charging System, and that is why they are so cheap, and NO ONE is Bidding on them. They could be a deal for someone who is Totally OFF-Grid and doesn't Need the Battery Charger/Transfer Switch, but those are NOT the Universal SW Series Inverter/Chargers like the ONE further down the list, going for $2KUS Minimum, 5. Outbacks can be had NEW for that kind of Money, and when the rare used one shows up, anywhere from 50% of that on up depending on who sees the listings. 6. There are other outfits that make and market Inverter/Chargers. I do not deal with them as I prefer to stay with stuff I KNOW WORKS. 7. I have an SW 4024, SW 4048, and an SB 2624, all Trace Stuff that had been here for DECADES, and it is ALL WORKING, as I type. 8. I have design, and installed, numerous OutBack based systems, since they went into business for themselves, and ALL are still running with NO Problems, that I am aware of. So, Take it for what it is worth,.... ...... YMMV.....
The only difference is that I heard that the same team stayed with xantrax for a while and kept their design going then got their feathers ruffled and walked down the street.
You basically have to decide grid tied with battery backup or completely off grid. IF you go off grid route, you might want to stick with a 12v system, and use some of the power as 12v DC for things, rather than invert all of it to 120/240 AC. IF you go grid tie, with battery back up for grid down, pick a higher voltage.....24 at least, because you can use smaller wire and smaller fusing. I went 24v, but honestly, knowing what I know NOW, I think I would have gone 48v. Also, be aware if you grid tie, the power co MAY require 240 connection ( ours does ), and that means 2 inverters, ( or sets of 2....you can do 4, 6, etc ) plus an Outback Hub to make them phase correctly. Most grid tie ONLY inverters ( which Outback doesn't make one ) produce 240v ONLY in a single inverter package.
I'll not be doing a grid tie. Im going to start with an inverter, then get a battery bank. The sizes of all the components cant be chosen until I see what our usage will be. I just looked at another refrigerator tonight. 335 KWH per year. Also saw a new freezer at 364 KWH per year. THATS AROUND 700 KWH per year for the two cold units. Thats 1.92 kwh per day. So lets say I want to use 3 kwh per day. How big a system will I need? KF
